Putin says West lacks will for compromise

Putin accused the West of inciting the conflict in Ukraine, which he values as part of a much larger war between Russia and an arrogant West.

Our chatpers in the West seem to have completely forgotten that there are concepts like reasonable self-control, compromise, willingness to give up one thing to achieve an acceptable result for all”, President Putin said.

“They are certainly obsessed with only one thing, to realise their interests at any cost. If this is their choice, let's see what will come out of it”, Mr. Putin said at a meeting of the Valday Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia.

During his speech, President Putin also announced that Russia has successfully implemented evidence with a nuclear-powered missile, while warning that his country could cancel ratification of the treaty to prevent nuclear evidence.

“We successfully tested the latest test of the global-range Burvestnik self-activism missile, which feeds on nuclear energy”, without providing further details. This is the first time the successful release of the Burvestnik missile, which the Russian president had talked about for the first time in 2018.

There is not much information on the Burvestnik missile, which NATO has named it “Skyfall” Many Western experts have shown scepticism about the missile, since they say a nuclear engine would be very unstable.

It is thought that this type of missile could carry nuclear or conventional warheads, that it could stay in the air longer than other missiles, and that it could cross larger distances because of its nuclear engine.

When President Putin first announced that Russia was working on this rocket in his speech in 2018, he claimed that the missile would have an unlimited ray, enabling it to circulate across the globe, uninhibited by missile defence systems.

Many observers have remained skeptical, arguing that such a weapon would be difficult to manage and would pose an environmental threat. The United States and the Soviet Union worked on nuclear power engines during the Cold War, but eventually canceled the projects, considering them very dangerous.

The Burvestnik rocket is thought to have suffered an explosion in August 2019 during Russian Navy trials on the White Sea, killing five nuclear and two military engineers and resulting in a short-term increase in radioactivity that caused fears in a nearby town.

Russian officials never identified the weapon involved, but the United States said it was the Burvestnik missile.

Russia reportedly has used the country where the Soviet Union made the last test of nuclear weapons, the Arctic Archipelago “Noovaya Zemlya”, to build facilities to make evidence for the Burvestnik missile.

In the speech, Russian President Putin noted that the United States has signed it, but has not ratified the 1996 treaty for the comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, while Russia has signed and ratified it. He argued Russia could reflect the position taken by the United States”.

“Theoretically, we can revote ratification”, he said.

His statement comes amid widespread concerns that Russia might decide to resume nuclear evidence, in an effort to discourage the West from continuing to provide military support to Ukraine after Kremlin sent military forces to this country.

Russia's defence doctrine envisions a nuclear response to an atomic attack, or even an attack on conventional weapons, which “threatens the very existence of the Russian state”. This vague formula has led some Russian experts to ask the Kremlin to correct it so the West can be forced to take the warnings more seriously.

Asked about possible changes in the Russian nuclear arms doctrine, Mr. Putin replied that he sees no reason for this.

There is no situation where something could endanger the independence and existence of the Russian state”, he said. I think that no person with a clear mind and clear memory would have any idea to use nuclear weapons against Russia”.

As he gave the speech, the Russian coin, ruble, continued to lose value towards the US dollar. On Thursday, $1 reached the value of 100 Russian rubles.

The Russian aggression in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, triggered a war that has ravaged parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people and caused the worst deterioration in Russia's ties to the West for six decades.

The West considers war to be Moscow's biggest strategic mistake since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Western leaders say they are arming Ukraine to enable it to defend and defeat Russian forces. A Ukrainian counteroffensive has so far failed to deliver occupied territory.

However, President Putin presents the war as part of a much larger battle with the United States, which the Kremlin elite says aims to separate Russia, snatch its major natural resources and then use them in competition with China.

The West, he said, was the cause of the war in Ukraine because the United States is a “hegemon” that values itself the sole arbitrator of truth on the planet.

We didn't start the so-called war in Ukraine. Rather, we are trying to end it”, he said.

Former spies, who have power in Moscow, have repeatedly warned of the danger of a Russian war. - NATO, as Western domination after the Cold War fades, Russia, which is finally giving up on feelings of humiliation following the failure and dissolution of the Soviet Union and China that is rising in superpower status. / VOA